Chapter 5 - THE OLD MAN WHO RAISED ME TWICE
For four years, I had carried groceries for Antonio Cosenza.
Cooked him soup.
Taken him to doctor's appointments.
Sat beside his hospital bed.
Held his hand when he died.
And never once had he said:
I'm your father.
I stared at Vittorio.
“You're lying.”
“Ask Salvatore.”
I did.
Salvatore looked away.
That was the answer.
My knees weakened.
Gabriel pulled out a chair.
This time, I sat.
“Antonio knew?”
“Yes,” Salvatore said.
“All those years?”
“Yes.”
I wanted to throw something.
Instead, I laughed.
“He taught me Sicilian.”
Salvatore's face softened.
“It was the language he used with your mother.”
“Why didn't he tell me?”
“Because Elena made him promise.”
I turned on him.
“She was dead.”
“He still kept promises.”
That sounded exactly like Antonio.
It made me angrier.
Vittorio interrupted.
“How touching.”
Gabriel stepped toward him.
“You vanished for twenty-four years. Why come back now?”
“Because Antonio is dead. Elena is dead. And Salvatore is dying.”
Silence.
I looked at Salvatore.
Gabriel went still.
“What?”
Salvatore's expression hardened.
“Not now.”
“You're sick?”
“Later.”
Vittorio smiled.
“The king has pancreatic cancer.”
Gabriel's face changed.
For all his control, the shock was visible.
Salvatore said nothing.
Vittorio had clearly come to destabilize everything.
Then he looked at me.
“Antonio didn't only leave you a key.”
“What else?”
“The notebook.”
We had it.
He knew.
That meant someone had been watching us.
Vittorio explained Antonio had encoded names of everyone involved in exposing his trafficking network.
Judges.
Dock officials.
Police.
Politicians.
Some were criminals.
Some were witnesses.
One list could destroy reputations across New York.
“And you want it.”
“I want what belongs to me.”
“Evidence of your crimes?”
His eyes chilled.
“History is written by whoever survives.”
Gabriel answered:
“Then start worrying.”
Vittorio smiled.
“Careful, nephew.”
Then he looked at me one last time.
“Ask Salvatore why Antonio was allowed to live comfortably in Queens while Elena spent her last years terrified.”
I turned.
“What does that mean?”
Vittorio left.
The door closed.
I looked at Salvatore.
He remained silent.
“Tell me.”
Finally he said:
“Antonio made a deal.”
“What deal?”
“To keep you alive.”
My throat tightened.
“With whom?”
Salvatore looked toward the door Vittorio had just used.
May you like
“With Vittorio.”
Antonio had spent years secretly paying my mother's enemy.
